Continuations

I use Wikipedia all the time. Sometimes to Susan’s dismay I will look up the answer to a question that has come up in conversation in the middle of dinner (I find that easier than remembering to look it up afterwards). I have linked to Wikipedia extensively from Tech Tuesday series. I refer our kids to Wikipedia as a source for many of their homework projects. And the list goes on. I have given money to Wikipedia in the past, but still their need to appeal to users for donations bothers me. D...

Whenever my kids tell me how their teachers don’t want them to use Wikipedia as a source I redouble my effort to show them why Wikipedia is important and how it works. In particular, I make sure they understand how to look at the history of a page and to check out the discussion or “talk” page that sits behind the content page. Two principles of those pages are critically important. First, they are inclusive by allowing anyone to contribute to the process at least initially (on some controver...